Comments on: CBC and National Post to Share Content

By: Mark98

Mark98 — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:23:47 +0000

So, if you want to bulk up, you eat a lot and lift heavy. ,

By: Paul Mcgrath

Paul Mcgrath — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:22:27 +0000

Not Izzy, I don’t know what the internal rationalization for the deal is. That’s a question for Richard Stursberg. As for your comment on the CBC trying to make money, I would say that that’s accurate, and may explain the deal itself. As I said in the post, the money and financial sections of web sites are usually considered premium properties for advertisers, so the motivation may have been to firm up the CBC’s finance section to attract more advertising.

By: Not Izzy

Not Izzy — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:32:39 +0000

Thanks Paul.

So what is the internal rationalization for the deal? I agree cbc.ca’s money section needs a lot, but is the trade of sports content an equitable exchange?

I suppose one could argue that cbc.ca has far more traffic, which would mean generating more revenue from FP content than it would be losing by giving content to a site with less traffic. If so, it underscores further that CBC is about increasingly making money, not content.

Which is ok, but it would be good to have it said.

By: Paul Mcgrath

Paul Mcgrath — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:55:43 +0000

Not Izzy, I couldn’t find the numbers on Comscore. Although even if I did, it wouldn’t change the argument. The CBC site still has way more traffic.

By: Not Izzy

Not Izzy — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:46:43 +0000

So I’m guessing those Comscore numbers won’t be available?

Sounds like maybe CBC is positioning to join in the Canwest garage sale.

By: Antimatter

Antimatter — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:43:01 +0000

I agree, Alexa is near to useless.

Comscore is more accepted, but it has limitations as well.

If CBC is 1 or 2 in every category, what’s the point of this deal? It seems like a giveaway of sports content to someone who needs it more.

By: Observer

Observer — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 16:39:50 +0000

I wouldn’t place too much credibility on Alexa tracking results. The only thing Alexa tracks is where people who have downloaded their spyware toolbar on their PC have gone.

Comscore is a much more reliable and waccepted industry standard.

Comscore has CBC either #1 or #2 in virtually every category.

And Gawd… I wish people could come up with something… anything… more original than “the Corpse”. The 90′s are over. Get over them.

By: Stephen Downes

Stephen Downes — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 01:42:56 +0000

Well they did say they wanted to make the CBC more right wing…. this is a creative way of getting neocon content into the CBC without letting the neocons into the CBC.

By: Bruce Hoffman

Bruce Hoffman — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:22:54 +0000

So the CBC (funded by the Canadian tax payer) swings a deal with the National Post (the ‘national’ newspaper that has yet to post a profit)? How much tax money is going to the privately held National Post?

By: Glad no lock out until at least 2014

Glad no lock out until at least 2014 — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Odd the National Post, who loves dumping on the Corpse when ever it gets a chance, will be using CBC content since Canwest already has a broadcast arm in Global. Global on occasion lets CBC use images from their helicopter in Toronto.

By: Anon

Anon — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:49:52 +0000

Sounds like a good arrangement. I know CBC News already shares with Canwest Global on some stories in the Toronto area. One has to wonder how long it will be before the post is either sold or closed. I know they were on the Death Watch list not long ago, with rumours that they would stop publishing. This was at the height of recession bad news.

I like the paper. Stopped buying it a while back though. In Toronto the Internet and free commuter papers seem to fill my needs.

By: Antimatter

Antimatter — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:44:50 +0000

Wonder what the union has to say about this?

As a taxpayer, I’m not sure how I feel about having content I paid to develop (sports) gain revenue for the Post.

By: Kempton

Kempton — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:18:53 +0000

Interesting deal, a potentially win-win one.

Hope you are right that CBC was able to negotiate a reasonably good deal with the stronger position but then we don’t really know because the details are not disclosed to us. And we don’t know how the deal is structured which sometimes is the game. (witness how Microsoft negotiated its first deal with IBM long long time ago)